How much HP / Torque

[93LXHORSE]

Will one of those early 80's Cadillac diesel blocks hold?

I want to build a turbo diesel Chevy small block based Fox body street strip car....

That would be pimp. I don't even know if you can find those blocks any more but I knew someone that had one when I was in the 9th grade.

I lived down in the Valley and diesel was .16 a gallon so there were some strange diesel vehicles running around down there.

[HobieF3]

I am not trying to poke fun at your car situation at all, but has it driven you to use drugs to ease the pain??? :confused:



;)

[NDSP]

one thing you might want to take into consideration is desiel motors way a ton. That would be alot of weight over the nose.

[AL P]

From what I understand those engines had a bad habit of snapping the crankshaft in half....

[46Tbird]

If you're gonna do something completely off the wall, use an Olds diesel block.

A lot of the gas drag cars use diesel blocks for their ridiculous strength. Cut down the mains to a standard Chevy size, custom rods/pistons, fabricate a custom intake, bolt on some decent Olds-style heads and there ya go. I've seen 1400hp factory blocked Oldsmobiles, as wacky as that sounds.








Although, it doesn't sound nearly as wacky as a turbo diesel Chevy small block based Fox body street strip car. ;) :D

[Cooter]

while it's refreshing to see the wheels turning, allow me to try to point you in a better direction...

"GM" and "diesel" don't mix... yes, the diesel blocks of old are stronger than the gas blocks were, but they weren't strong for a diesel... torque = work... horsepower = work x RPM... so, the old diesel blocks will hold a lot of horsepower, but only at high RPM... in a gas application.

but in a diesel application, those engines are pretty much worthless...

I realize I'm going to sound like a broken record, but there's good reason for it.

if you REALLY want to get into diesel performance, use a Cummins... off the top of my head, the only other cheap diesel powerplant that'll stand up to some halfway decent power would be the old 5cyl Mercedes diesel from the late 70's early 80's. you GOTTA get one with an iron head.

but, with that said, I'd still go Cummins. I can't say that I'd put one in a car but only because it would take a lot of work from a firewall modification standpoint, and if I'm going to invest that much time/energy into a vehicle, I want to be able to move a house with it! I'm not one to have $10-20k wrapped up in a car that's just a daily driver/cruiser... I can do that for $2-4k and have a fun/fast car.

I HAVE thought about it before though, and it WOULD be sick as hell... a dude on TDR put a relatively stock 12v Cummins in a Dakota... with a little more fuel, the truck went LOW 12's (like 12.20's I believe) and got 35mpg on the highway! LOL! that was a relatively stock engine!! I couldn't imagine my motor in a 3500lb vehicle! :eek:

for a drag vehicle, I would stick with a 3sp automatic... a Chrysler 727 or a GM TH400 will bolt to a Cummins with the correct adapter plate (factory piece, pretty easy to find)

the lack of overdrive won't hurt you because in a light vehicle, you'll need some pretty serious gear and tire because the RPM range is so low... ~4,000 RPM is about as tight as I'd wind one of these motors. I believe you can get a 2.50 gear for the Ford 9"

it would be absolutely rediculous and lots of fun!! I'd love to do it, but it just requires too much custom work and fabrication for my current resources... (time, money, shop space, etc.)

diesel performance is addicting... it isn't cheap, and "fast" becomes a relative term... but the fuel is cheap (well... cheaper anyhow... I filled up last night for $1.43/gal... you gotta love being able to run 100+ psi of boost on pump fuel that's cheaper than 87 octane!) and due to the low RPM nature and fuel efficiency of diesels, you can actually drive your hot rod everywhere and anywhere.

with that said, if you want a pretty quick car that's fun, fairly inexpensive, and doesn't attract attention from thieves and police, it's tough to beat a Fairmont! :D

now, one thing you could do is get you one of those old diesel Caddies/Olds/etc. and drop a potent gas motor in them... or get a diesel Mark VII, and you'll have one heck of a smog exempt fox body sleeper! :D

diesel definately kicks gas, but if you really want to go quick, it's definately not the cheapest option IMHO.

Forrest

[Boss Hogg]

That Monster Garage trike was sweet.

[Dolomite]

Originally posted by Forrest
I believe you can get a 2.50 gear for the Ford 9"

You can find them stock in '70s Fords. Ask me how I know.

[Cooter]

Originally posted by David Z28
That Monster Garage trike was sweet.

so very sweet!!!

but it needed two things... well three actually...

1. more fuel!!!! not a puff of fuckin' smoke out of that thing! :mad:

2. taller rear tires... I'm sure it was plenty scarry, but imagine how much tire that thing could use! I bet you could start out in 9th gear w/ the stock height tires!!

3. a little more of a "stack" to properly route said smoke

[Cooter]

Originally posted by Dolomite
You can find them stock in '70s Fords. Ask me how I know.

hmm... because every one of your battle-birds has 2.50's? :D

Forrest

[Dolomite]

:(

But I like them on the highway.